Both terms – SEO and SEM – are the sides of the same coin. They both help drive website traffic for more conversions but are fundamentally different.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is more competitive than Search Engine Marketing (SEM). And, knowing when to use each marketing strategy can pose a challenge at times. SEO gets long-term organic traffic to your site – and SEM is about faster-paid results.
If you are new to both concepts, you must understand the core difference between SEO and SEM. Using the strategies can differentiate between a digital marketing campaign and scaling your business. Let us dig deep and find out – which one you should prefer for your business?
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is a complex strategy that focuses on maximizing the number of visitors and giving your website visibility in SERP. You can make an SEO marketing plan that boosts the site’s appearance on search engine listings.
If you have well-optimized content, search engines will index your site to a higher SERP position once the crawlers start visiting your site. It will not only increase your chances of ranking higher in SERP but also grain customer tractions.
In short, SEO is a process of optimizing websites to receive organic traffic or gain more site visitors. Most SEO experts refer to SEO as a natural search engine listing.
What is SEM?
Search Engine Marketing is an online marketing that uses paid advertising and optimization and increases website ranking on SERP. It is a process within digital marketing that promotes your site. By using paid search ads, you can buy advertising space on search engines.
Instead of waiting to rank on the first few pages, you can pay per click to appear at the top of search results. Moreover, SEM helps the advertisers get more visibility in search results.
It uses paid ads and PPC to get website traffic from different search engines to gain more visibility. SEM is a paid strategy – so you’ll have to pay to appear in the results. In most cases, SEM also includes SEO.
What are the main types of SEO?
On-page SEO
On-page SEO helps to optimize each webpage according to targeted keywords. This type of SEO is used to attract new customers. Plus, without on-page SEO, you won’t be able to grab the attention of search engines.
On-page SEO includes different strategies like – keyword research, content optimization, meta description, title tag optimization, image optimization through alt tags, URL optimization, internal linking, H1 tags and header tags.
Your site can get good exposure with on-page optimization – but you will have to create the right strategies. With the right strategy, it can increase your organic share of traffic.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses more on elements that are not content-related. It mainly focuses on the architecture and backend structure of the website. Sites that focus on content should be adept with technical SEO for ranking higher.
At times, Google may not index your website due to multiple user experience issues. It is vital to get your fundamentals right with the technical SEO part.
You need to focus on strategies like – site speed, URL structure, XML sitemaps, page redirects, duplicate content, mobile-friendliness, HTTP, and general website security issues. Moreover, technical SEO issues can affect visibility – so get an insight into the issues.
Content marketing SEO
Content marketing focuses on quality content, guided by keyword research and optimization. With great content – you can capture user attention and create brand awareness. Besides, keyword-optimized content can get your website organic traffic and increase search engine visibility.
It can increase your ranking on the essential website page. You need to focus on content marketing SEO strategies like – keyword research, blog posts, guides, page updates and optimization, images, infographics, live videos, and explainer videos. A new website’s focus should be on content optimization to get a hold of ranking.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO focuses on the reputation and authority of your website. It creates links by connecting your website to other high-quality websites. Once your site obtains more links – it increases organic traffic.
Besides, Google views your website as a trustworthy source of information that users will visit online. Also, you will be rewarded with higher rankings.
You need to focus on off-page SEO strategies like – local listing, link building, forums, and directory profiles. In short, off-page SEO takes actions outside your site to impact the rankings. The strategies can also help in influencer marketing and content marketing. Additionally, for specific industries like law firms, for instance, targeted off-page SEO techniques are crucial for mass tort lead acquisition, including guest blogging, email marketing, social media engagement, reviews, press releases, legal community engagement, and online legal directories.
What components does SEM include?
Paid advertising
It is the most vital aspect of Search Engine Marketing. You need to pay search engines to place a text link or a media-rich banner to advertise a website or a link. Moreover, it features on the first few pages of query web results.
The pricing is usually based on the pay-per-click model (PPC). The option provides exposure – as you can apply it to more generic keywords, without having to worry about the algorithm. PPC is good for conversion rates – but sponsored links can have a lower click-through rate.
Web analytics
Web Analytics uses the collected internet data to analyze and make inferences on demographic retargeting and customer behavior patterns. It does not separate a marketing activity as it complements different decisions in paid search and organic SEO strategies. SEO experts use the data on retargeting as they optimize the PPC costs.
Differences between SEO and SEM
- SEO is more focused on improving a website, whereas SEM is focused on gaining organic and paid traffic.
- The impact of SEM is immediate – but SEO may take time.
- With SEM- you can put your results in front of your audience in a few clicks. On the other hand, the process of SEO works over time and may not give you instant results.
- SEO is a simple way to obtain constant traffic over time. Plus, you don’t have to spend money on ads as you may with SEM.
- SEM does not add value over time and is active only as long as you pay for results. However, SEO strategy evolves and may leave a lasting impact to gain more traffic.
- SEO results are unpaid – but SEM results will cost you money for the placement of ads.
- SEM results can be selective to a certain audience being paid. But, SEO results connect with a wider audience – and hence its reach is good.
Which one is better?
It depends on the kind of marketing you need for your website. SEO is a gradual process – so you can’t expect results in a single day. Plus, with SEO you will have to work on technical updates and aspects so that your site gets exposure in SERP. However, if you want instant traffic advertising – nothing beats Search Engine Marketing.
SEO is more about acquiring, planning, monitoring, and optimizing content for organic traffic. SEM is for reaching the target through advertising and other ways. Most startups start with SEM and later shift to SEO for long-term goals.
Nonetheless, you will need to consider your objectives, resources, and KPIs before deciding on a particular strategy. If you combine both SEO and SEM, you can get rapid results and long-term ROI.